This invention relates to footwear and, particularly, boots having a preferably waterproof boat-like shell.
Footwear and particularly boots are known which have a one-piece boat-like shell comprising the sole, vamp and heel counter injection-molded as from rubber or plastic compounds and to which an upper may be attached. The one-piece boat-like shell effectively provides a waterproof lower-most portion of the boot which extends across the top of the toes upwardly to at least partially overlie the ball of a user""s foot, preferably to the instep and rearwardly to about the heel. Such boots have been well received in the marketplace. However, they suffer the disadvantage that the same material is used for the sole as for the vamp and the heel and must be formed by the same process. A disadvantage of such boots as appreciated by the present inventor is that they do not permit the advantageous use of different materials for the sole, vamp and heel counter and do not permit use of different processes for manufacture and treating of the materials for these various portions of the boot.
To at least partially overcome these disadvantages of previously known devices, the present invention provides a construction for a footwear boat-like shell having an injection-molded sole of preferably lightweight rubber formed by injection-molding and to which an upper including a water impermeable vamp and heel counter formed to an insole board by a cement lasting process.
An object of the present invention is to provide a substitute for a conventional one-piece boat-like shell for footwear.
Another object is to provide a waterproof construction for footwear formed by a cement lasting.
Another object is to provide a boat-like shell for footwear formed with an injection-molded sole and a vamp and a heel counter of plastic, preferably vinyl, material carrying decorative markings thereon.
Another objective is to provide an improved method for construction of a waterproof boat-like shell for footwear.